Evaluation of SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine-Induced Antibody Responses in Patients with Neuroimmunological Disorders: A Real-World Experience.

This study evaluates the antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2 vaccines in patients with neuroimmunological disorders (pwNID) who are receiving immunomodulating treatments, compared to healthy individuals. It included 25 pwNID with conditions such as optic neuritis, neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder, multiple sclerosis, myasthenia gravis, and polymyositis, as well as 56 healthy controls. All participants had completed their full SARS-CoV-2 vaccination schedule, and their blood samples were collected within six months of their last dose.

Clinical Usefulness of a Cell-based Assay for Detecting Myelin Oligodendrocyte Glycoprotein Antibodies in Central Nervous System Inflammatory Disorders.

Background: The clinical implications of myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein autoantibodies (MOG-Abs) are increasing. Establishing MOG-Ab assays is essential for effectively treating patients with MOG-Abs. We established an in-house cell-based assay (CBA) to detect MOG-Abs to identify correlations with patients' clinical characteristics.

Serum Peptide Immunoglobulin G Autoantibody Response in Patients with Different Central Nervous System Inflammatory Demyelinating Disorders.

Previous efforts to discover new surrogate markers for the central nervous system (CNS) inflammatory demyelinating disorders have shown inconsistent results; moreover, supporting evidence is scarce. The present study investigated the IgG autoantibody responses to various viral and autoantibodies-related peptides proposed to be related to CNS inflammatory demyelinating disorders using the peptide microarray method. We customized a peptide microarray containing more than 2440 immobilized peptides representing human and viral autoantigens.

Association Between Curative Treatment after Transarterial Radioembolization and Better Survival Outcomes in Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Transarterial radioembolization (TARE) is one of the therapeutic options for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This study aimed to investigate the predictors and prognostic values of achieving curative treatments after TARE. Overall, 143 patients with intrahepatic HCC treated with TARE between 2011 and 2017 were recruited from two Korean tertiary institutes.

Negligible risks of hepatocellular carcinoma during biomarker-defined immune-tolerant phase for patients with chronic hepatitis B.

Background/aims: The immune-tolerant (IT) phase of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients is not generally indicative of antiviral therapy (AVT). We assessed and compared the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) during the IT-phase stringently defined by a low fibrosis-4 (FIB-4) index, compared to that in patients undergoing AVT.

Methods: Among 125 untreated patients that were hepatitis B e-antigen positive, hepatitis B virus-DNA >20,000 IU/mL, with normal alanine aminotransferase level from 2012 to 2018, those with a FIB-4 index of <1.

Entecavir and tenofovir on renal function in patients with hepatitis B virus-related hepatocellular carcinoma.

The use of tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) is associated with a risk of renal dysfunction. We investigated whether TDF is associated with the deterioration of renal function in patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) requiring frequent computed tomography (CT) evaluations and transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) sessions, when compared to entecavir (ETV). Between 2007 and 2017, 493 patients with HBV-related HCC were enrolled.

A tool to measure the impact of inaction toward elimination of hepatitis C: A case study in Korea.

Background And Aims: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) and its sequelae present a significant source of economic and societal burden. Introduction of highly effective curative therapies has made HCV elimination attainable. The study used a predictive model to assess the clinical and economic impact of implementing national screening and treatment policies toward HCV elimination in Korea.

Sarcopenia Is Independently Associated with the Degree of Liver Fibrosis in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.

Background/aims: Sarcopenia is associated with liver fibrosis in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and chronic hepatitis B. We investigated the association between sarcopenia and hepatic fibrotic burden in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

Methods: Patients with T2DM who had received a comprehensive medical health checkup were recruited.

Establishment and validation of a risk prediction model in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma treated with transarterial radioembolization.

Background/aims: Few studies have reported the treatment outcomes of transarterial radioembolization (TARE) using yttrium-90 (Y) for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We established and validated a new risk prediction model for patients with HCC treated with TARE.

Methods: Between 2010 and 2017, 113 and 35 patients with intrahepatic HCC treated with TARE were selected for the training and validation cohorts, respectively.

Proposal of a New Risk Score for Patients Treated with Transarterial Chemoembolization due to Recurrent Hepatocellular Carcinoma after Curative Resection: A Multicenter Study.

Background/aims: Prognostic models are lacking for patients with recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) following surgical resection. This study devised and validated a new hepatoma arterial-embolization prognostic (HAP) score optimized for use in patients undergoing treatment with transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) for recurrence subsequent to surgical resection of HCC.

Methods: Training cohort (n=424) and validation cohort (n=350) patients with recurrent HCC after resection treated with TACE between 2003 and 2016 were enrolled.

An observational study on long-term renal outcome in patients with chronic hepatitis B treated with tenofovir disoproxil fumarate.

In patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB), long-term effects of tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) on renal function have been controversial. This study aimed to analyse the real-world long-term effects of TDF on renal function in Korean patients with CHB. We analysed a cohort of 640 treatment-naïve patients with CHB who were treated with TDF between May 2012 and December 2015 at Severance Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea.

Transarterial Chemoembolization in Treatment-Naïve and Recurrent Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A Propensity-Matched Outcome Analysis.

Objectives: Transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) improves the survival of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC); however, TACE treatment outcomes of patients with treatment-naïve HCC (TN-HCC) and those with recurrent HCC after curative resection (R-HCC) have not yet been compared.

Methods: We recruited 448 patients with TN-HCC, and 275 patients with R-HCC treated with TACE as first-line anti-cancer treatment.

Results: At first TACE, patients with TN-HCC showed a significantly lower proportion of male gender (74.

Refractoriness to transarterial chemoembolization in patients with recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma after curative resection.

Background/aims: It is important to identify patients who are refractory to transarterial chemoembolization (TACE), which is performed for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We investigated the predictors of poor treatment outcomes in patients with recurrent HCC treated who were treated with TACE after curative resection.

Methods: 428 patients with recurrent HCC after curative resection who were treated with TACE were enrolled.

Predictors of Discordance in the Assessment of Skeletal Muscle Mass between Computed Tomography and Bioimpedance Analysis.

Computed tomography (CT) and bioimpedance analysis (BIA) can assess skeletal muscle mass (SMM). Our objective was to identify the predictors of discordance between CT and BIA in assessing SMM. Participants who received a comprehensive medical health check-up between 2010 and 2018 were recruited.

Conditional Survival Estimates Improve Over Time for Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma: An Analysis for Nationwide Korea Cancer Registry Database.

Purpose: Conditional survival estimates (CSE) can provide additional useful prognostic information on the period of survival after diagnosis, which helps in counseling patients with cancer on their individual prognoses. This study aimed to analyze conditional survival (CS) for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) using a Korean national registry.

Materials And Methods: Patients with HCC, registered in the Korean cancer registry database, were retrospectively reviewed.

Vapor- and Liquid-Phase Adsorption of Alcohol and Water in Silicalite-1 Synthesized in Fluoride Media.

In this work, batch-adsorption experiments and molecular simulations are employed to probe the adsorption of binary mixtures containing ethanol or a linear alkane-1,n-diol solvated in water or ethanol onto silicate-1. Since the batch-adsorption experiments require an additional relationship to determine the amount of solute (and solvent adsorbed, as only the bulk liquid reservoir can be probed directly, molecular simulations are used to provide a relationship between solute and solvent adsorption for input to the experimental bulk measurements. The combination of bulk experimental measurements and simulated solute-solvent relationship yields solvent and solute loadings that are self-consistent with simulation alone, and allow for an assessment of the various assumptions made in literature.

Influence of hepatic steatosis on the outcomes of patients with chronic hepatitis B treated with entecavir and tenofovir.

Background/aims: The influence of hepatic steatosis (HS) on chronic hepatitis B (CHB) is unclear. We evaluated the influence of the degree of HS, assessed using the controlled attenuation parameter (CAP) of transient elastography (TE), on treatment outcomes in CHB patients initiated on antiviral therapy.

Methods: A total of 334 patients who were initiated on entecavir or tenofovir between 2007 and 2016 with available TE results were recruited.

Reproducibility of European Association for the Study of the Liver criteria and modified Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors in patients treated with sorafenib.

Background & Aims: The European Association for the Study of the Liver criteria and the modified Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors are used for assessing the treatment outcomes of hepatocellular carcinoma. We investigated the inter- and intra-observer reproducibility of the European Association for the Study of the Liver criteria and modified Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma treated with sorafenib.

Methods: A total of 99 patients with treatment-naive advanced hepatocellular carcinoma receiving sorafenib were included.